Once you're finished with the brainstorming stage of writing, it's time to bring some order to all those thoughts and ideas. The good news about a reflective essay is that you already know the order of the events for the incident you plan to relate. Now you just need to set up the reflective framework for your story.
As you consider what organizational pattern to use, think carefully about the relationships between events in your narrative. Are you writing about a problem you needed to solve? Does one event in your story cause another event to occur? Do you want to compare one thing to something else? Or do you just want to tell your story from beginning to end?
Once you're clear about which of these approaches your essay will take, use the steps below to put your ideas into writing.
Begin by explaining the background, or context, for your story. You can mention why this event is important to you, or you can wait and discuss its significance at the end.
Write down exactly what happened in the incident by describing it from your point of view. Include as much descriptive detail as you think is necessary to make your story realistic and understandable.
Once you have a first draft, consider which larger organizational pattern—chronological, cause and effect, comparison/contrast, or problem-solution—it fits. Then revise your story as needed to fit that pattern.
Remember that your goal is to tell a story that reveals what you learned from the experience, so you'll need to find several places throughout your story to insert your thoughts, feelings, and insights.
